Board to rerun school construction bond

MOSES LAKE — The Moses School Board is set to rerun its $137 million school construction bond in April if the measure fails to secure a few more votes by Friday’s certification deadline.

“The irony here is that it almost got 60 percent,” said school board President Kevin Donovan. “The majority of our community has supported school bonds in 2012, 2015 and 2017.”

As of last Friday, the bond was four votes short of receiving the 60 percent approval necessary for bond initiatives to pass in the state of Washington. The Grant County Auditor’s office was still receiving and counting ballots, and adding challenged ballots to the final total, and so the measure could still pass by Friday morning when state law requires the certification of the election.

“I’m on pins and needles and I’m still hopeful,” said outgoing Superintendent Michelle Price.

According to Price, school board members will need to approve a new bond resolution at their regular meeting on Thursday in order to meet the county’s filing deadline for the upcoming April 25 special election.

Because the district has little time to meet the county’s filing deadline, board members agreed to run the same bond language they approved last December and the voters narrowly rejected on Feb. 14.

“In 48 hours we cannot put together another bond package,” Donovan said.

The school board has scheduled a vote for a new bond resolution at their next regular meeting this coming Thursday.

Should the February bond measure find enough votes to pass, Price said the board could simply withdraw the bond resolution.

The bond measure aims to alleviate overcrowding in the Moses Lake schools through the construction of a new high school, a new elementary school, and repairs to the current high school. Last year, the district bought roughly 50 acres from the Grant County Fairgrounds at the corner of Paxson and W. Valley as a possible site for a new high school.

While generally supportive of this school construction bond, board member Eric Stones expressed concern that another vote for a school bond would feel to some in the community like the board is trying to “shove it down our throats.”

“The timing on this is not going to get any better,” Donovan said.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com